Teen's jaw shattered after e-cigarette explodes in face
A 17-year-old boy is lucky he escaped with just a shattered jaw and misplaced teeth after his e-cigarette exploded.
The shocking moment happened while the teenager was riding a bus in Fresno, California, the surveillance camera on board recording the incident that left him with a bloody mouth and a hole in his jaw.
It took six weeks and two surgeries to reconstruct the bone and repair damage caused by the blast, and he is still waiting on implants for his missing teeth.
The teenager is said to be recovering well but the Dr Katie Russell who treated the boy in emergency said he was "pretty freaked out" after the explosion.
Owner of Satyr Vapor, Adam Wooddy believes the incident was caused by a damaged battery in the device.
“They (batteries) have a wrap on the outside that needs to stay intact,” he told CNN.
“If that battery gets torn and that starts to touch metal or something like loose change in your pocket … it can definitely short out the battery,” Mr Wooddy said.
The type of e-cigarette in the incident has not been disclosed but this isn’t an isolated incident.
CNN said a study published in 2018 estimated that more than 2,000 e-cigarette explosion and burn injuries were treated US emergency departments from 2015 to 2017.
In November last year, another incident was captured on a surveillance camera when an e-cigarette exploded inside a mans pocket.
He was left with third degree burns after the device burst into flames, sending sparks flying in a bottle store in New York.
Dr Russell is calling for warnings on the popular cigarette replacements, telling CNN that people aren’t being warned of the dangers and how serious the injuries can be.
"People need to know before they buy these devices that there's a possibility they're going to blow up in your pocket, in your face," said Dr. Russell.
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